History is all about people.  The study of people of different types from different times and different places is the most important aspect of our work. History fires pupils’ curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world.  Pupils consider how the past influences the present, what past societies were like, how these societies organised their politics, and what beliefs and cultures influenced people’s actions.  As they do this, pupils develop a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people.  They see the diversity of human experience, and understand more about themselves as individuals and members of society.  What they learn can influence their decisions about personal choices, attitudes and values. In history, pupils find evidence, weigh it up and reach their own conclusions.  To do this, they need to be able to research, sift through evidence, and argue for their point of view – skills that are prized in adult life.

Our History provision is designed:
• To prepare children for the world in which they live and prepare them for their adult lives in
a socially complex and culturally varied society.
• To help children to develop a sense of chronology and time and to develop a chronological
framework that enables them to sequence events and objects.
• To help children to understand the ways in which the past is different to the present and
that people of other times and places may have had different values and attitudes to those
of people in the present.
• To help children to develop an awareness and understanding of the nature of evidence and
understand that because of its range and diversity, historical judgments may be provisional
and tentative.
• To help children to develop an appreciation of change and to understand that change is a
result of human inventions, beliefs and motives.
• To help the children to develop an understanding of cause and effect.
• To help the children to develop historical empathy and so have an informed appreciation of
the predicaments and points of view of people in the past.
• To help the children to develop the ability to pose historical questions and to make
informed judgments.
• To help the children to develop the enquiry skills needed to use all kinds of historical
evidence in order to offer explanations of past events.
• To help the children to distinguish fact and fiction.
• To contribute to the personal and social development of the children by helping them to
develop a respect for evidence and a tolerance of a range of opinions.
• To help the children to develop a range of communication skills using a wide range of
media.
 

Teaching and learning style
The school uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in geography lessons. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding. We do this through a mixture of whole-class teaching and individual / group activities. Teachers encourage the children to ask as well as answer scientific questions. The children have the opportunity to use a variety of secondary sources of information, where it will enhance learning as well as gaining first hand experiences, for example, the use of books, photographs, graphs, diagrams, models and IT.
Teachers may employ the following methods when delivering science sessions:

• Setting common tasks that are open-ended and can have a variety of responses
• Setting tasks of increasing difficulty (we do not expect all children to complete all tasks)
• Providing a range of challenges with different resources
• Using additional adults to support the work of individual children or small groups
• Incorporating high order questions that apply to scientific thinking to extend the most able children in science
 

Planning

This subject is a component subject within the Primary Learning Pathways Curriculum (and a foundation subject in the national curriculum). Teachers plan using the History Progression (and rolling programmes) to produce medium term plans. Units may be enquiry or area led and links may be made to other subjects. Our units are typically designed to run half termly but may be shorter blocks or specific projects. Challenges, enquiry and investigation generally drive these projects. History is taught through discreet (standalone) subject work and  may be blocked into days / sessions according to the project based approach.

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Programmes of study

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Teaching and learning within history for pupils in the EYFS is delivered and monitored via the
‘Understanding the World’ strand of the curriculum. This is delivered via a range of topics including
about themselves, people around us and the lives of people from the past.

Chronological Understanding
By the end of KS1 pupils should:
• Develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time.
• Know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework.
• Recognise that their own lives are different from the lives of people in the past.
By the end of KS2 pupils should:
• Use factual knowledge and understanding of aspects of the history to describe characteristic features of past societies and periods, and to identify changes within and across different periods.
• Show increasing depth of factual knowledge and understanding of aspects of the history of Britain and the wider world.

Knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past
By the end of KS1 pupils should:
• Identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.
• Show knowledge and understanding of aspects of the past beyond living memory, and of some of the main events and people they have studied.
By the end of KS2 pupils should:
• Show factual knowledge and understanding of aspects of the history of Britain and the wider world.
• Describe some of the main events, people and changes.
• Give some reasons for, and results of, the main events and changes.
• Use this to describe features of past societies and periods and to begin to make links between them.

Historical interpretation
By the end of KS1 pupils should:
• Know and recount episodes from stories about the past.
• Begin to recognise that there are reasons why people in the past acted as they did.
• Begin to identify some of the different ways in which the past is represented.
By the end of KS2 pupils should be able to:
• Show some understanding that aspects of the past have been represented and interpreted in different ways.
• Describe and make links between events and changes and give reasons for, and results of, these events and changes.
• Suggest possible reasons for why some events, people and changes have been interpreted in different ways.

Organisation and communication
By the end of KS1 pupils should:
• Find answers to some simple questions about the past from sources of information.
• Observe or handle sources of information to answer questions about the past on the basis of simple observations.
By the end of KS2 pupils should:
• Select and combine information from different sources.
• Produce structured work, making appropriate use of dates and term.
• Use their knowledge and understanding to begin to evaluate sources of information and identify those that are useful for particular tasks.
• Select and organise information to produce structured work, making appropriate use of dates and terms.

 

Partnerships and Learning Opportunities

Our delivery is enhanced by our partnership work with several organisations. We are learning partners with Exmoor National Park. This involves direct support from rangers both in school and fieldwork exploring historical sites. We also work with Heatree Activity Centre to bring our Bronze age work to life. Further collaborations take place with local museums and historical re-enactment visitors.